A New Helper in the Family History World!

Family History Guide Overview

The Family History Guide has now been released. I like the format it uses, complete with links to other sources and helps.

The goal of The Family History Guide is to "raise the number of people involved in family history, worldwide, and help them be more successful."

Bob Taylor, CEO of The Family History Guide

Early Bird Deadline Ends Today, So Act Fast!

“Don’t miss the early-bird discount deadline for FEEFHS conference, today, 7/18 FEEFHS - Foundation for East European Family History Studies. This is a great opportunity to learn all you didn't know you didn't know regarding eastern European family history research!

Up Close & Personal with Baerbel Johnson

Baerbel Johnson

Baerbel graduated from BYU with degrees in Sociology and “Family and Local History Studies” as it was called back in the day. She is a widow and has three children of her own plus a foster son: two girls, two boys, but all grown up at ages 32 to 24. Baerbel loves to sing and has been a member of the German Chorus Harmonie for over 20 years. She served an LDS mission from 1978-1980 in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and she loves gardening.

Johnson has an incredible amount of experience in the world of genealogy. She worked in the Family History Library for 20 years as an international reference consultant. In her words, “This was a wonderful time for me because I am a people person and there I had lots of opportunities to help people directly with solving research problems and teaching them to work with various records. Because of my language background I supported research in various part of Europe, Africa, and the West Indies.” On a personal note, I have a friend who does German research and whenever she had a problem, she told me that she always “went to see Baerbel in Salt Lake because she was kind, knowledgeable, and didn’t make me feel dumb with my questions.” What a great recommendation!

Baerbel has been working under Joe Everett on the International Eastern Hemisphere Patron Services Team since 2013. She supports the family history centers in  Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Baerbel loves to problem solve using her “ancestor detective” mindset. In her words, “It is a wonderful feeling when you find that one clue that makes a brick wall crumble….And I enjoy gathering more than just names; really learning about an ancestor in the context of his/her social and cultural environment. It’s amazing how even after 40 years of research new sources become available that add color to the picture. For instance, just recently I browsed through a new book published by Ernie Thode, a listing of digitized German-language newspapers. This prompted me to search the Internet for newly digitized material from my home area. In the process  I found two newspaper notices that showed that my great-grandfather was both mechanically inclined and creative. He received two patents: for inventing some kind of valve and for a process to make leather from cows’ stomachs.” You never know when you are going to find something wonderful!

Another thought from Baerbel in her own words, “All my grandparents were dead before I was born, so I never learned much about them growing up. But in the years since I began my family history journey I have learned some amazing things about them, and somehow feel that I know them. This connection is another special gift I get out of doing genealogy. I love to teach people how to find their ancestors and have similar wonderful experiences. Their successes make me very happy.”

Here is another interesting note; the name Baerbel is a diminutive form of Barbara, like Peggy is for Margaret. Baerbel says that “the name is common in Germany, but kind of weird here. My kids say that I’m barely bearable!” Somehow, I doubt that!

Make a plan to attend Baerbel’s classes at the FEEFHS Conference. She will be teaching Resources from German Research in formerly Eastern Areas, German Civil Registration and German Digital Libraries. It will be well worth you time and effort.

Hey Dave... Where is Volhynia?

Dave Obee is one very busy man. He is both a journalist and a genealogical researcher with a dozen books and almost 600 presentations at conferences and seminars in Canada and the United States to his credit. He travels the world both researching his family and helping others with their family research.

Dave is Editor-in-Chief of the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia. He has worked as a journalist since 1972 in both British Columbia and Alberta. Dave is passionate about school libraries and other literacy projects and was one of the founders of the annual Times Colonist book drive. This book drive has raised more than $1.5 million since 1998.

If you read either Internet Genealogy or Your Genealogy Today magazines (formerly Family Chronicle), Dave’s name is probably familiar to you. He writes the back page column in every issue of both of these magazines. In addition, Dave is the man behind a couple of other Internet sites: CanGenealogy and Volhynia.

Canadian icon, Shirley Douglas, OC, actress, daughter of Tommy Douglas (the father of Canada’s Medicare) and mother of Kiefer Sutherland (star of the hit show, 24), is presented with her family tree in Toronto, Thursday, May 25, 2006, by Dave Obee, genealogist and member of the Ancestry.ca Canadian Advisory Board. (PR DIRECT PHOTO/Ancestry.ca)

Dave has had many honors over the years. In May 2006, Dave had the opportunity to present Shirley Douglas (Canadian film and stage actress and activist) with a published copy of her family history at the official launch of Ancestry.ca.

In 2012, the University of Victoria awarded Dave an honorary doctorate of laws for his tireless work as a historian, genealogist, and journalist.

In 2014, Dave was presented with the Governor General’s Caring Canadian award for his work as a community volunteer. As you can see, Dave is no slouch!

On a personal note, Dave has visited 17 countries in Europe, doing genealogical research in most of them. He has a great interest in the world war battle areas in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Dave was born in British Columbia, and his roots there are traced to his great-great-grandfather who arrived from Manitoba in 1890. Dave had paternal ancestors arrive in North America two centuries ago, settling in New York State and Ontario. Dave’s mother was born in the Soviet Union, now Ukraine. Her ancestors were from Germany, now part of Poland. This explains Dave’s interest in Volhynia.

Dave served as the president of the Federation of East European Family History Societies (now Foundation for Eastern European Family History Studies) from 2004-2007. For more information about Dave Obee, go to daveobee.com.

We invite you to Dave Obee’s presentations this year at the FEEFHS Conference. After all, Where is Volhynia?